THE initiative of the Dhaka North City Corporation to rent out road spaces where footpaths exist in areas such as Gulshan, Banani, Agargaon and Uttara can at best be construed as a means of earning some money. But as this could, as urban planners say, intensify traffic congestion in areas already grappling with the problem and obstruct pedestrians, this could prove to be a misguided initiative. City authorities do not need to earn additional money at the cost of the convenience that they are mandated to afford residents. This initiative could, however, at worst be construed as a means of granting favours to certain people. The corporation has, as official documents show, rented out a road space spanning 400 square feet, 80 feet long and 5 feet wide, to the north of the city corporation market at Gulshan for food carts. The lease of the road space, allotted to a business establishment for two years, for Tk 288,000, requires the renter to deposit the amount to the corporation fund along with a 15 per cent value-added tax of Tk 43,200 and Tk 28,800 in income tax to the national treasury.
The city corporation鈥檚 administrator says that the agency would rent out road spaces for short terms such as two, three or six months and observe the outcome. But the corporation should not have any scope to permit the occupation of road spaces as part of an experiment. The renter of the road space at Gulshan 1 has, as 抖阴精品 reported on November 2, started erecting an iron structure on the footpath, forcing pedestrians to walk on the road. The administrator says that he has given instructions to stop the erection of the structure on the footpath, describing it as 鈥榦ver-enthusiasm鈥� on part of the renter. The incident of footpath occupation in question could very well be the beginning of a much more troubling affair. This will also harm public safety. The corporation has also sought permission from the city police for renting out a footpath, without specifying the location or the area, for six months for 鈥榖eautification鈥� and the establishment of hawker stalls 鈥榠n a disciplined way.鈥� The administrator seeks to say that there are already many illegal hawkers on the footpaths and the corporation wants to have some legal ones.
It is time that the corporation understood that illegal occupation of road spaces or footpaths could not be countered with legalised occupation whilst its mandate is to free roads or footpaths of any occupation, legal or illegal, to keep vehicular traffic on the road and pedestrian movement on the footpath unhindered. The higher-ups in the local government ministry should, therefore, act to stop such income-generating activities by the corporation.